Tupã
Tupã (Tu-pá, Tu-pã or Tu-pana, that Tupi language means thunder) is an entity of Brazilian Mythology. The natives pray to Nhanderuvuçu and his messenger Tupã. Tupã was not exactly a god, but a manifestation of a god in the form of the sound of thunder. Influence of Catechization Câmara Cascudo (a Brazilian historian, anthropologist, lawyer and journalist) affirms that Tupã is a "work of adaptation of catechesis". In fact, the concept "Tupã" already existed: not as a deity, but as connotative to the sound of thunder. Therefore, it was an effect, that the cause the natives did not know and therefore feared. Osvaldo Orico (a Brazilian writer) is of the opinion that the natives had a notion of the existence of a Force, of a God superior to all. Thus he says: "In spite of the simple religious idea that characterized them, they had a notion of the Supreme Being, whose voice was heard in the storms Tupã-cinunga, or "thunder", whose luminous reflection was Tupãberaba, or "lightning". believed to be the god of creation, the god of light. For the Indians, before the Jesuits catechized them, Tupã represented a divine act, was the breath, the life, and the man standing with the flute, who earns his life with the flow that passes through it. Myths & Legends Behavior Tupã is said to be a merciful and benevolent. However, in many stories he resembles the Greek god Zeus, famous for his extramarital cases, generating many illegitimate children. Creation According to legend, after Nhanderuvuçú created the souls and waters (Iara), he created Tupã, responsible for controlling weather, climate and winds. That is why the natives feared the sounds of thunder and lightning, for they thought it was Tupã expressing himself negatively about something or a bad omen. Tupã is also credited as the creator of the light and it is said that he lives in the sun, that was also his creation. Creation of the Sun and the Moon According to tradition, Guaraci, the sun god once got tired of his eternal job and had to sleep. When he closed his eyes the world fell into darkness. To brighten the darkness while sleeping, Tupã created Jaci, the moon, to illuminate the night and bring softness and charm to the world. Jaci was a goddess so beautiful that when Guaraci awakened by her light, he fell in love with her. And so, enchanted, he went back to sleep so he could see her again. But when the sun opened her eyes to admire the moon, everything lit up and she went to bed, fulfilling her mission. Guaraci then asked Tupã to create Rudá, the love and its messenger. Love knew no light or darkness. It could unite them at dawn. In this version, when an eclipse happens to be solar or lunar, it is the moment in which Jaci and Guaraci are together falling in love more and more. Although some versions say that Jaci is married with Guarací, the Sun God, the most famous one is that she is his twin sister and that she is the wife of the God of Thunder, Tupã. As the wife of Tupã, it is said that they were the first couple ever. As Tupã created her, she is considered his daughter, but she is also considered his sister as there is a belief that Tupã said "I will not have only children, because all are my brothers, and sisters, even if they come from me". That story is from before the creation of the human kind. According to another legend, in villages all over the world, it was always day, and the natives never stopped hunting, cleaning and cooking. The sun went from east to west and then went the opposite way, from west to east, always without ever disappearing. One day, however, when Tupã had gone out to hunt, a man touched the fragile Sun to know how it works, and the Sun broke into a thousand pieces. From then on, darkness reigned in the villages. Tupã, then, nonconformist, recreated the Sun, but this did not return again from the west to the East, so Tupã created the Moon and the stars to light the night. Creation of the Human Kind Tupã descended to Earth in a place described as a mountain in the region of Areguá, Paraguay, and from this place created everything on the face of the Earth, including the ocean, forests, animals and the stars were placed in the sky at that time. Also, he created the human beings. The first humans created by Tupã would have been the Rupave (the father of the peoples) and Sypave (the mother of the peoples) and these would have given birth to a large number of daughters and to three sons, called Tumé Arandú (the sage), Marangatu (generous leader) and Japeusá (liar), the latter a thief and crook and would have committed suicide, but he was resurrected as a crab, and from this then all the crabs were cursed to walk back like Japeusá. Among the daughters there was Porâsý, notable for sacrificing her own life to rid the world of one of the seven legendary monsters, diminishing its power (and therefore the power of evil as a whole). It is believed that several of the first humans rose in their deaths and became smaller entities. Category:Gods Category:Brazilian mythology Category:South American mythology Category:Thunder gods Category:Creator gods